James Pender enters guilty plea before start of hammer-killing trial

Harwood Heights man admits bludgeoning to death his estranged wife

June 10, 2009|By Victoria Pierce, Special to the Tribune

In a last-minute plea before his trial began Tuesday, a Harwood Heights man admitted that he killed his estranged wife by striking her several times on the head with a hammer as she walked home from the River Forest Metra station in March of 2005.

But relatives of Therese Pender said James Pender's sudden decision to take responsibility for the slaying is nothing more than an attempt to spare his life.

Pender's guilty plea did not come with an agreed-upon sentence. Prosecutors said they still will seek the death penalty, and it will be up to Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Tucker to decide if he is eligible for capital punishment. An eligibility hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday in Maywood. The final sentencing hearing likely will be held this summer. He could receive a sentence of 20 years to life in prison or the death penalty.

Attorneys, relatives and witnesses had come prepared for the trial to start Tuesday morning with jury selection.

Assistant State's Atty. David Sabatini said that had the case gone to trial, the evidence would have shown that after four years of marriage, Therese Pender, 41, had filed for divorce and received an order of protection in December 2004. A few weeks later, the order of protection was extended until April 26, 2005.

On March 16, 2005, James Pender, 57, took a Metra train to River Forest, where he sat in a nearby park with a briefcase containing several knives, a chisel, a lead pipe and a hammer, Sabatini said.

When he saw Therese Pender walking across a street at 6:15 p.m., he took the hammer out of the briefcase and approached her from behind. Sabatini said Pender told police he "tapped" her on the top of the head with the hammer.

She screamed and ran, Sabatini said, but Pender followed her and repeatedly struck her on the head before he ran from the 500 block of Park Avenue, where the attack had occurred. She later died at Loyola University Medical Center. An autopsy revealed she had five blunt-force-trauma wounds on her head.

James Pender was arrested nearby, and his coat and the hammer both had Therese Pender's blood on them, Sabatini said. He also had Therese Pender's cell phone.

Pender's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Preston Jones , said his team will do all it can to save his life.

"This is Mr. Pender sticking his neck out and taking responsibility," Jones said. Taking responsibility can be a mitigating factor judges consider when deciding whether someone should receive the death penalty, he said.

Therese Pender's family said they hope he will be found eligible for the death penalty and ultimately receive it.